I learned in church today

[Solon]

Hold on, Solon is an Elder?

I didn't make the height requirement, but they relaxed the standards just this once.

[pellegrino]

There's a guy in my neighborhood/ward who is pretty progressive, although he thinks he is very progressive. He has often confided in me & others that he is hesitant to share his doubts or issues with the church publicly, for fear of undermining authority, damaging testimonies, etc.

So, the Elders Quorum President gave a lesson today that essentially addressed this guy's reservations directly.
He talked about how "belief" is a slippery idea, especially when we use words like "know" to express it, and then basically said that many people in the church don't believe a lot of of the "facts" as the church teaches them, but they believe the church helps them approach Truth - as they see it and as well as they can.

It was a pretty profound idea and edgy to basically challenge anyone who thinks they "know", telling them that nobody really "knows" and that everyone is just hoping really hard. So, in the meantime we shouldn't judge people who question the church, since everyone is in the dark to some degree. The people questioning church teachings are just more comfortable with that realization.

On the other hand, he cautioned the questioners against judging the die-hard faithful for being non-thinking followers. Everyone should be asking questions, he said. Whether people are looking for their answers in prayer or through academic research, it doesn't really matter. It's the questions that matter, not the answers.

I was impressed.

I want a transcript.

"The gates of hell are filled with the screams of his victims!"

That's a quote I heard during church.

that's stupid. We don't even believe in hell.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

I didn't make the height requirement, but they relaxed the standards just this once.

I was thinking HP or at least Seventy.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

"You've got to start walking to get where you're going, even though you're lost."

That was the only note-worthy thing about church today.

Seems pretty ballsy to preach doctrine directly contradictory to BSA policy right in the middle of the Friends of Scouting drive.

[Omaha 680]

that's stupid. We don't even believe in hell.

What about just the gates?

[myboynoah]

The ward council now plans sacrament meeting agendas.

lol, your Bishopric are some real jokers.

[cowboy]

At a memorial service for a largely non-member crowd Saturday, our bishop testified that we have a Heavenly Mother and Father. Definitely a first for me from a bishop.

[Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

We shouldn't let our children watch Disney movies because a lot of their executives are gay.

[smokymountainrain]

At a memorial service for a largely non-member crowd Saturday, our bishop testified that we have a Heavenly Mother and Father. Definitely a first for me from a bishop.

My oldest received her Patriarichal blessing yesterday and the Patriarch mentioned and testified of Heavenly Mother multiple times as we were talking before and after the blessing.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

We shouldn't let our children watch Disney movies because a lot of their executives are gay.

Pedophiles breathe a sigh of relief that they aren't considered gay and the scouting program rolls on!

[byu71]

We shouldn't let our children watch Disney movies because a lot of their executives are gay.

Was this just some wacko that stood up and bore testimony or something taught by one of the Priesthood or Relief Society leaders in your ward?

[Eddie]

I do shoot up some pheasants every Christmas with my construction and network management crews out near Cedar Fort, if that in any way improves your image of me.

I think I've been to that pheasant club with my brother and a buddy - but it's been about 5-6 years. It was in the news about a year after we went because they had parked a couple of campers by the office and were running an eastern branch of the bunny ranch there. Definitely improves my image of you!!! Ha!

Apparently the First Presidency have sent down a big push on improving sacrament meeting. According to my bishopric, here is what needs to change:

1. No more reading talks.

2. Kids need to be quiet or taken out to the foyer, by the men.

3. Bishopric needs to be seated on the stand at 7 minutes before the start of Sacrament Meeting.

4. Stop choosing obscure hymns for the meeting.

5. No more speaking on General Conference talks.

6. No stories during F&T meeting. Get up, testify, sit down.

7. The Ward Council now plans all Sacrament Meetings together.

Our bishop attended a meeting a few months ago with GAs (Elder Oaks was there) and one message was that bishoprics need to "take sacrament meeting back," meaning that they have to make sure the meetings are good, avoid delegating the meeting's content, and so forth. So this may be a particular SP's application of that general guidance.

That would be my guess too.

We just did a training with the Stake Presidency Saturday morning on the subject. It actually relates to the first presidency and Q12 determining that improving Sabbath day observance would be the most important thing they could to to build faith and testimonies in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. This was covered during training that the general authorities all attend during the week of General Conference and the 70 have been tasked with rolling it out to all of the stakes/wards.

It's been broken into 2 parts - the first relates to church and Sacrament Meeting in particular. From what I saw, one of the 12 did suggest involving the ward council in sacrament meeting planning - but didn't specify to what degree. And another aspect that our Stake President mentioned was that talks shouldn't just be someone doing a book report on or reading a GC talk.

Aside from that, our Stake Presidency left it up to the wards to train the Ward Council on the subject and then determine what/how they would implement the idea of improving Sabbath worship. So I suspect several of the numbers in your list fall in line with what LA says - your Stake Presidency has decided to implement things on a stake level.

FYI - our Stake President has promised a follow up training in June that relates to improving Sabbath worship at home. So this is just the beginning...

[Sullyute]

We shouldn't let our children watch Disney movies.

[Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

Was this just some wacko that stood up and bore testimony or something taught by one of the Priesthood or Relief Society leaders in your ward?

A comment in Sunday School, but from a member whose opinion is probably respected by a lot of members who haven't learned better yet.

[byu71]

A comment in Sunday School, but from a member whose opinion is probably respected by a lot of members who haven't learned better yet.

I would hope and bet most of those who respect him lost some of that respect. Unless of course you are from somewhere like Panguitch.